Netbeans and Ubuntu Unity
June 11th, 2012 | by Tonny Kohar |If you are developing application with Netbeans in Ubuntu Unity environment, most likely the Netbeans menu is black (hard to spot) and in bold text (ugly). And this things effecting all java program. It is due to the ambience theme employed by Ubuntu which result in menu black and bold. And not only that, because the new Unity is using Unity Launcher and Global menu, all java application will looks weird on that environment eg: no global menu, wrong launcher icon, not integrated into Unity HUD, etc
So how to fix that. The menu black things can be solved by changing the ambience theme into another theme or you can edit the ambience theme resources definition file. But the global menu and HUD integration is harder to workaround.
Luckily if you are using Netbeans you can just use Java Ayatana plugin which solve all the problem above. Java Ayatana will integrate Netbeans nicely with Ubuntu Unity eg: Ubuntu global menu, Ubuntu HUD integration, Unity launcher fix, etc.
How to install Java Ayatana Plugins
- In Netbeans, goto menu – Tools – Plugins
- On the settings tab, add the Update Center, and use
* Name: Java Ayatana
* URL: http://java-swing-ayatana.googlecode.com/files/netbeans-catalog.xml
- On the Available Plugins tab, choose reload, then find and install Java Ayatana
- Restart Netbeans and done. Netbeans is integrated with Ubuntu Unity
For detailed instructions please visit Java Ayatana plugins
And if by any case you are developing Netbeans Platform application, you also can use Java Ayatana plugins as extra cluster.
*see Ubuntu Unity global menu works
*see Ubuntu Unity HUD integration
Tags: Java, Netbeans, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Unity
21 Responses to “Netbeans and Ubuntu Unity”
By Laszlo Kishalmi on Jun 12, 2012 | Reply
Ugly fonts can be fixed by copying the fontconfig.Ubuntu* form java-6-sun/jre/lib to java-7-oracle/jre/lib
By Andrew on Jun 15, 2012 | Reply
This didn’t work for me. Using Ubuntu 12.04 and Netbeans 7.1.2. The plugin installed OK and it shows as active after a Netbeans restart, but the menu is still on the application and not in the global menu.
Is there something else that needs doing?
By Tonny Kohar on Jun 15, 2012 | Reply
@Andrew,
In my case, everything is works as expected, no need to configure anything. Just install and done.
Did you modify your Ubuntu Netbeans Launcher in the past to allow custom plaf, etc ?
By Andrew on Jun 15, 2012 | Reply
UPDATE! It turns out that I couldn’t get it working because I was using Java 6 JDK/JRE and I needed to use Java 7.
Install it with ‘sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk’ and then edit the netbeans.conf file (/usr/local/netbeans-7.1.2/etc/netbeans.conf on my system) to use the new java version ‘netbeans_jdkhome=”/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-openjdk-i386/jre”‘
By Daniel Bolduc on Jun 22, 2012 | Reply
Merci Andrew
Ça fonctionne ! Sauf pour la “font”, i will follow the Laszlo comment.
By Mauro on Aug 3, 2012 | Reply
Is there a way to apply the same fix for Netbeans Platform Applications? I mean, for example I have the same issue with the VisualVM that is a NBP based App.
Thanks!
By Tonny Kohar on Aug 3, 2012 | Reply
@Mauro,
Yes, as long as you have access to Plugins system and able to add the above plugins, it will works
By Werner on Aug 6, 2012 | Reply
I just installed Netbeans 7.0.1 in Ubuntu 12.04. I suggest that the easiest way to make the Netbeans menu bar readable is by opening the Apppearance Window in System Settings and changing the Theme from “Ambiance” to “Radiance”.
By yiannis on Aug 31, 2012 | Reply
This didn’t not work with netbeans 7.1
It worked after upgrading to netbeans 7.2
By Roman on Nov 26, 2012 | Reply
Thanks a lot! It solved the problem. Ubuntu 12.10, Netbeans 7.2.1, JDK 1.6.0_32 (from Oracle)
By Artur on Dec 19, 2012 | Reply
It worked nicely for me. Moving menu to top also gives you more space for editor. Thanks!
By Samuel on Mar 25, 2013 | Reply
This worked great for me. Thanks, Andrew!
Someone should update the post, ’cause I could only fix it with your tip.
B.R.
By Aftab Naveed on Apr 6, 2013 | Reply
How did you fix the ugly fonts of Ubuntu? could you please let us know
thanks
By Aftab Naveed on Apr 6, 2013 | Reply
Sorry I meant Net Beans not ubuntu
By nniico on May 13, 2013 | Reply
Tried it with netbeans 7.3 on Ubuntu 12.10 and 13.04 without success.
Is it only for Unity, or could it work with indicator-applet-appmenu on a “classic” gnome session?
I have this log (indicator-applet-appmenu.log):
DEBUG: Indicator-Appmenu – Active window is: NULL
DEBUG: Indicator-Appmenu – Switching to menus from XID 0
By Tonny Kohar on May 14, 2013 | Reply
@nniico
I only tried it with Ubuntu Unity, not sure works with other desktop environment
By Jason on May 22, 2013 | Reply
Way to use the internet to help ppeole solve problems!
By cialis on May 22, 2013 | Reply
If you want to be rid of Unity you have to go to one of the other desktop spins, unless there’s some trick I don’t know for getting Gnome without Unity in Ubuntu 11.4. Kubuntu and Xubuntu are both possibilities, and can be installed into Ubuntu without a full reinstall, via the kubuntu-desktop and xubuntu-desktop meta-packages. I have all three on one of my Ubuntu installs and I can switch desktops on every login. Use the desktop chooser menu in the GDM (default Ubuntu graphical login) dialog box, after choosing username but before entering your password.KDE has its own quirks, but is generally a little more like Windows and less like Mac or a phone launcher than Gnome or Unity, respectively. YMMV.XFCE is lightweight. If you want a minimal window manager that does the basics and stays out of your way the rest of the time, it’s a good pick. I used it mostly on older hardware where resources were too tight for KDE or Gnome.I haven’t tried Enlightenment in years, so I can’t much speak to it. It was pretty good back then, so may be worth a try.
By Willie on May 23, 2013 | Reply
That’s what we’ve all been wiatnig for! Great posting!
By cialis on May 23, 2013 | Reply
Hello Oliver, great product…I’d like to push for the PHP MySQL integration as well as ask / provide some feedback of user interface:1. It would be great if I could select and “edit task” by clicking on the name (and double click for rename). // rather than now edit name when I click on it.2. The X button to the very right – looks like a “delete” (especially since it’s next to “completed”) so it didn’t make sense for me to click it to “edit task”. When I got that – I couldn’t find a way to remove a task from the backlog… Is it possible?The above 2 UI functions feels confusing compared to how normal software’s works.3. One feature that would be great would be to include a /images/ folder where it stores screenshots for bugs etc. Even better if you build in a “take a screenshot from within Unity” – and it stores it automatically into this folder, and a person can link that image to the task! This way you can pin-point bugs and highlight ideas and tasks to others.Great potential, would like to see the PHP and the above functions implemented, I’m a supporter…